We created the Marco Technology Assessment as a way to give business owners a window into the IT infrastructure that supports their business. All too often, understanding business technology needs can seem confusing and frustrating to anyone outside IT, but we’re looking to change that.

A Technology Assessment for Non-Technical People

A business’s technology landscape can seem inaccessible to those of us who aren’t tech-savvy. But, for businesses looking to optimize their technology, solve security weak points, keep up with industry best practices and mitigate risk, keeping a pulse on technology is essential. We developed an IT infrastructure assessment where the results speak directly to non-technical stakeholders within an organization.

Here are four things you’ll learn from a Marco Technology Assessment.

1. The Current State of Your Business Technology

Oftentimes, business owners don’t have a clear vision of what’s going on within their current infrastructure. This can make it difficult to approach technology decisions and capital investments with a strategic eye. The Marco Technology Assessment gives business owners a data-driven outlook of their current state of affairs. We analyze and assess the following 12 key technology areas:

Server Infrastructure

Workstations

File Systems

Security

Network Infrastructure

Backup & Disaster Recovery (BDR)

Email Systems

Applications

Internet Infrastructure

Wireless Infrastructure

Power & Environment

Firewall

2. Known Risks

Each of the 12 technology areas listed above is given one of three scores: high risk, medium risk, or meets industry best practices. We then identify the known risks within each technology area. For the key areas that meet industry best practices, they are functioning as expected and are not posing any known risks to your business. Here’s an example of a knowable risk associated with server infrastructure: Lack of server redundancy (business operates on a single server).

3. Business Impact

Next, each identified risk is coupled with the impact it has on the organization. Let’s stick with the single server example and look at its impact: In the event of server failure, all business productivity will be unavailable. Basically, not having server redundancy leaves business operations vulnerable.

4. Recommendations for Mitigation

The final component is offering recommendations on how to mitigate each risk. In other words, now that we’ve identified this risk, what steps can be taken to alleviate it? With the single server example, there are two potential solutions: Deploy a second physical server along with virtualization software, or implement a BDR (backup and disaster recovery) device that enables critical servers to run during an outage. Either of these solutions will address the risk.

Now, for each of the 12 key technology areas, an IT infrastructure assessment might reveal zero risks to any number of risks. And at the end of the assessment, you’re given a full presentation that outlines all of the known risks, their impact on your business and the recommendations. It’s broken down and presented in a way that speaks clearly to business owners and key stakeholders. At the very least, it gives business owners a clear picture of their IT infrastructure, and at the very best, it gives business owners a technology assessment checklist they can use to build out a strategy to protect their business.